HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA SCOTT!

Today is Grandma Scott's birthday. This photo was taken the day she graduated from George Washington University in 1951. Grandma is on the right. (Her sister Venna lived in Hawaii at the time and I believe she must have sent the lei.) Great Grandma Watkins is in the middle and Grandma's sister Nina is on the right.

I called Grandpa to tell him I was thinking of him and her on Grandma's special day. I feel so very blessed to have such wonderful parents. I think of Grandma often and try to figure out how she organized her time so that she was able to focus on those things that are most important.

I remember that she found many ways to help others. When we lived in Maryland, she would take my cousins and our family out to the farm to have fun in the out-of-doors. She would make sure that the extended family gathered for holidays and other special occasions, often hosting them at our house. After moving to Utah, she would invite my cousins who were at BYU over for holiday meals and at other times, pick them up at the airport, and in other quiet ways help them, such as helping them purchase a car or talking with them when they needed a listening ear. I'm thinking especially of Shannon and Andrew, but it was true of many others as well. Shannon feels so close to Grandma that she named her daughter after her–-Janeen--though she didn't spell the name the same way.

Grandma spent many hours every week helping Grandpa's parents, Mary and Kenneth Scott, when they moved to Utah towards the end of their lives. She got their finances all organized, including all their investment accounts. For years, she would take Mary grocery shopping and do her hair weekly and many other things of which I'm not aware. As I thought about it this morning, I realized that her generosity was especially touching since, as she told me once, Mary had not helped her much with child care when her children were very young and little Richard was so sick.

I remember that she did a great deal to help Maude, an elderly neighbor, find a good retirement home and sell her own home, and helped her in many other ways.

I remember a friend of hers telling me once that Grandma would call her and invite her to go somewhere or do something and the friend would reply that she still needed to do her housework. The friend said Grandma always seemed to do hers very quickly, leaving her more time for more important things.

Another area in which she gave untold hours of critical service was in family history. I don't know how she did it–-especially before computers! She would arrange to trade child care so she could go downtown to the Library of Congress. (I remember she told me that she had seen Carl Sandburg there researching his series on Lincoln.) She used every available moment, year in and year out, to push forward the work of finding our deceased ancestors and making sure they received the temple ordinances. She would often involve Mary in going to the archives and copying down by hand the information they discovered. She told us stories about our ancestors and communicated such love for them that it burns brightly in my heart today and I long to do more to follow in her footsteps and continue her research. I realize that in order to do that, I also need to follow her example in other ways so that I can have the time available.

I remember how positive she always was. It used to bother me because when I wanted some sympathy, she was always pointing out the bright side! But now that I see things more from her perspective, I realize that looking at the bright side is truly the best way and with practice can become so internalized that we don't need someone else to do it for us :).

Grandma's love for the Lord and faith in Him was rock solid. Her devotion governed every aspect of her life. She wholeheartedly supported Grandpa in his callings, which from early in their marriage, often took him out of the home many evenings and weekends. (I think it was hard sometimes when he would be helping someone or fixing something at someone else's house, when there were tasks waiting at his own, but she didn't complain.) She rejoiced in the opportunities for travel and service his callings brought to them. Given the weight of his responsibilities, she once remarked to me that she tried to solve as many of the household issues on her own so as not to further burden him.

She studied the scriptures consistently and I remember her reading biographies of early church leaders in the evening before bed. In later life, she also read the Wall Street Journal and enjoyed sharing with me what she learned about some of her favorite topics: health and nutrition.

She was fearless in standing up for what is right. She wholeheartedly accepted the counsel of the prophets that mothers should be at the home with their children and at every opportunity she encouraged women to follow this counsel, both from the pulpit and in personal conversations. She was completely devoted to doing the Lord's will and tried to always follow His promptings to the best of her ability.

I'm looking forward to the day when you can all meet her and vice versa!